First of all let us look at seriousness which is, earnestness, graveness, gravity, gravitas, soberness, sobriety, somberness, sternness, grimness, dourness, humorlessness; solemnity, thoughtfulness, preoccupation, pensiveness… Instead you shall have cheerfulness and joviality.
There are a great deal of grim, dour, grave and gravitas happenings going on in the world around us but as you shall learn there has to be a mixture or no one will listen to either. Today MUST be funny as I have been full of such earnestness, soberness and humorless words for days and days. Either that or nothing at all, which might even be worse
Lets also look at the ‘friends, Romans, country men phrase that began the title of this blog. All you smart people will know it is from Shakespeare but I shall now tell you more (than you ever wanted to know).
“Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” In this familiar Shakespearean line from the play “Julius Caesar,” Mark Anthony was not asking if he could literally borrow ears. Metonymy is a figure of speech when one thing — usually an object or place — is used to describe something larger than itself.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears is a famous line from a speech in the play Julius Caesar. The character is inviting those around him to listen to him. His whole speech is filled with rhetorical devices that encourage the listeners to be on his side. Marc Antony gives his speech at Caesar’s funeral to the citizens of Rome. The purpose of his speech is to prove to the citizens that Brutus is wrong and Caesar shouldn’t have been killed. The tone of his speech is very ironic. It also gets very dramatic as he talks about Caesar being killed.
The purpose of Antony’s speech was to show tribute to his friend Caesar in a eulogy and to revolt the audience. Antony wanted the audience to revolt for him to seek revenge on Caesar’s brutal murder. The purpose contributed to the significance of the speech in the play.
The best summary of this part of Antony’s speech? a. Antony calls the assassins “honourable men” but subtly turns the crowd against them. Which details support the central idea that Antony is not being straightforward, but is criticizing the conspirators?
Right now I can hear you saying.
You: I thought this was going to be cheerful and jovial. This is not!
Me: Okay okay okay. I will get cheerful I was just trying to make you a little smarter on the way.
You: Never mind! Save the serious until tomorrow or later. Then we won’t hav to read you.
Me: Okay. You can never catch up to me in the smart department anyway.
You: Just got on with the funny Alexis. We will comprise and say you are smarter then we can ever hope to be. Okay?
Me: Okay. See we both just won. Look up win/win in the search engine and you will learn me. You: ALEXIS ?!?!?!
Me; Okay Okay Okay.
The hilarity of this blog shall be brought to you because I now have an address so I get mail.
You: How can you have no address Alexis
Me: One of the joys of the UAE is that there is no postal service. Well not if you do not have an Emirati ID which I never could achieve
You: That is weird! Why not?
Me: Do not ask me. That place remains a mystery to me. But it was hell. (And it is hot there). Therefore I could not get the magazine section of my precious New Yorker.
Me: Well the cartoons are absolutely hilarious and they will fill the blog. Some of the funniest with my comments about them.
You: Okay! Just get on with the funny please.
Me: Okay okay okay
I am not sure how this will work however. Will submit the jokes to Chris in order starting from one – making comments to you starting with one. See I am smart. Rather brilliant actually.
Number One
This HAS to be my favorite as I thoroughly identify with 👵🏻grandma. I, prior to becoming a Muslim, was luring sailors to their death. Come to think of it, I still am. I guess it is because I do not watch television and I am not about to start. Hahaha
Number Two
I do love this one as well! It does remind me of the Rulers in the Middle East. They have the most grandiose of ideas which are absolutely unattainable. But there is no one around to bring a touch of reality to their aspirations. The Ruler of Dubai is perhaps the best example with his plan to make Dubai a planned city by 2041, he would have to bomb all existing structures, and start again from the sand. Another of his plans is turning the Expo site into a residential community where one bicycles about – no air conditioned cars allowed. Do you realize how hot it is there? One would melt if you went on a bike. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the city of my residence, Edmonton. It already is a planned community, well some of it. Look at the River valley for example. Now new development is being contemplated, in Rossdale. In every way, public input is encouraged, welcomed and probably heard. Welcoming public input is a model for the Ruler of Dubai. Will he listen? Of course not, he is surrounded by lackeys who profit from his grandiose schemes. He is, unfortunately, but one example of Middle East rulers with absolutely bizarre plans. Saudi Arabia’s Ruler had or perhaps has a plan to built a monolithic structure. It is reported somewhere in this blog. It is impossible and those charged with the responsibility quit in frustration. Qatar’s World Cup perhaps another example.
Now we shall digress. First to define lackey. It is a decretory term, meaning a person who is obsequiously willing to obey or serve another person or group of people. One cannot but love the synonyms: toady; flunkey, sycophant, flatterer, minion, doormat, spaniel, stooge, hanger-on, lickspittle, parasite; tool, puppet, instrument, pawn, subordinate, underling, creature, cat’s paw; yes-man, bootlicker, suck-up.
So many of the Rulers of the Middle East surround themselves with toadies, flunkies, spaniels, stooges, and yes-men who suck up to them. It is a fact, not my opinion. The Middle East is plagued by sand storms which make life unbearable to its residents. That desert is not made for the level of habitation that exists and continues to mushroom. I know, I was there to see it all. I sometimes wonder why – but do guess that Allah had a plan.
I am suddenly reminded of the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes. It is a folktale written by Hans Christian Andersen. The moral of “The Emperor’s New Clothes”is that it is best to trust oneself and be honest; Speak up for the truth and what is right. Without honesty, people often end up looking very foolish.
Wikipedia waxes eloquently on the subject.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” (Danish: Kejserens nye klæder [ˈkʰɑjsɐns ˈnyˀə ˈkʰleːɐ̯]) is a literary folktale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” was first published with “The Little Mermaid” in Copenhagen, by C. A. Reitzel, on 7 April 1837, as the third and final installment of Andersen’s Fairy Tales Told for Children. The tale has been adapted to various media, and the story’s title, the phrase “the Emperor has no clothes”, and variations thereof have been adopted for use in numerous ” and as an idiom.”
“Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool.
Finally, the weavers report that the emperor’s suit is finished. They mime dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. Although startled the Emperor continues the procession walking more proudly than ever.”
Wikipedia further informs us that Andersen’s tale is based on a 1335 story from the Libro de los ejemplos (or El Conde Lucanor), a medieval Spanish collection of fifty-one cautionary tales with various sources such as Aesop and other classical writers and Persian folktales. Google it, read the entire article, it is fascinating, you will learn a great deal as I did.
Here is a summary found near the conclusion “Scholars have noted that the phrase “Emperor’s new clothes” has become a standard metaphor for anything that smacks of pretentiousness, pomposity, social hypocrisy, collective denial, or hollow ostentatiousness. Historically, the tale established Andersen’s reputation as a children’s author whose stories actually imparted lessons of value for his juvenile audience, and “romanticized” children by “investing them with the courage to challenge authority and to speak truth to power.
NOW see why I was in the Middle East, it is suddenly revealed to me. I am the child who speaks the truth pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes. I am like a child, I am now having my childhood, first, not second, because my first childhood was filled with abuse. It is the childishness that makes me loved by so many. Yesterday, the owner of Credo coffee shop, my fav new place said:
He: Who does not love you, Alexis?
Me: Well, jealous women and misogynists. But they also hate themselves. The Islamic faith teaches us that jealous women reveal their lack of gratitude to Allah for what He has given them. They are not content with what they have, usually a husband, children and grandchildren. I do pity them. There is nothing I could possibly do to please them so I ignore them and the misogynists.
The next blog may bring more cartoons. This did get a bit serious I do admit.
